River
Motala ström
100 km from source to mouth · Sweden.
SwedenFlows into Pampusfjärden
In numbers
Length
100km
Average flow
100m³/s
Basin
15,481km²
Drop
88m
from 88 m to 0 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
100 km of river and 22 stops on the way: 8 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmVätternat 88 m
- 2 kmVättern1,888 km²
- 3 kmMotala31,367 people
- 18 kmBoren27 km²
- 19 kmBorensberg2,942 people
- 31 kmNorrbysjön5.7 km²
- 33 kmLjungsbro6,763 people
- 37 kmBerg1,229 people
- 62 kmRoxen95 km²
- 66 kmKimstad1,469 people
- 69 kmDänseln0.5 km²
- 69 kmSkärblacka4,023 people
- 70 kmHorken0.5 km²
- 73 kmMårn0.6 km²
- 88 kmGlan76 km²
- 93 kmRiksbron, Norrköping
- 93 kmFemöresbron
- 95 kmNorrköping93,765 people
- 95 kmSaltängen bridge
- 96 kmHamnbron
- 96 kmBergsbron
- 99 kmKardon bridge
- 100 kmLindö4,763 people
- 100 kmPampusfjärdenat 0 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in Sweden
At the mouth it carries 100 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 25 seconds. It drops from 88 m to 0 m, 0.9 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 15,481 km², about the size of TL. 554,000 people live in it. Highest water: from April to May; lowest: from January to March. Its dams hold back little of its water (6.9% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- NorrköpingLargest city on its banks · 93,765 people
- Norrköping Airport (NRK)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 4 km from the cityCar hire at LPI airport (Linköping)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- On the water17 ferry piers, marinas, boat rentals and boat ramps along the river (OpenStreetMap)
- From June to AugustThe best months to visit
Motala ström, month by month
Highest water: from April to May
Lowest water: from January to March. Best months to visit: from June to August.
From about 68 m³/s in the lowest month to 100 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
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The basin
Motala ström: the basin in numbers
15,124 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 554,000people live in the basin
- 38/km²people per km²
- 146maverage altitude of the basin
- 602mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 6.0°Caverage air temperature
- 2%protected areas
- 19.8%covered by lakes
- 0.2km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 58% Forest
- 24% Cropland
- 2% Pasture
- 2% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Motala ström: what you find on the way
- 3Weirs
- 11LocksBerg's Locks and 10 more
- 5Waterfalls
- 7Boat ramps
- 10MarinasMotala, Malfors Slussen, Lindö gästhamn and 7 more
- 11River beachesJerusalemsbadet, Råssnäsbadet, Ljungbadet and 8 more
From OpenStreetMap, within 1.9 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
Cross-checked with our atlases
Motala ström in our other atlases
What our sister atlases know about the waterfalls on this river, the lakes it flows through, the beaches at its mouth, the mountains where it rises and the islands off its mouth.
8lakes on its wayLakeyas
Lakes and reservoirs (8)
Lakes it flows through, by Lakeyas
- Vätternkm 3 · 128 m deep1,888km²
- Borenkm 20 · 13 m deep27km²
- Norrbysjönkm 345.7km²
- Roxenkm 68 · 8 m deep95km²
- Dänselnkm 760.5km²
- Horkenkm 770.5km²
- Mårnkm 80 · 15 m deep0.6km²
- Glankm 96 · 23 m deep76km²
Lakeyas is coming soonOpen Lakeyas ↗
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Motala ström in pictures
Nearby
Rivers nearby
Sweden460 km160 m³/s175 km awayDalälvenSweden220 km350 m³/s234 km awayÖsterdal RiverSweden300 km150 m³/s223 km awayGöta älvSweden95 km570 m³/s273 km awayGlomma
Norway604 km720 m³/s311 km awayNissanSweden200 km41 m³/s297 km awayVenta
Latvia346 km96 m³/s340 km awayLjusnanSweden440 km230 m³/s373 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1506343) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed from the source to the mouth given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Our other atlases | Lakeyas — Wikidata · CC0; © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0; HydroLAKES · CC BY 4.0; NOAA OISST |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
The family
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